President Hu Jintao opened the Chinese Communist party’s 18th congress on Thursday morning, as the country takes the final step towards unveiling its next generation of leaders.
Amid tight security, Mr Hu, who along with Premier Wen Jiabao has steered China for the past decade, began addressing more than 2,000 party members assembled in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. When the Congress ends next week it will announce the once-in-a-decade leadership transition that will usher in Xi Jinping as the next leader of the world’s second-largest economy.
During his speech, President Hu announced a new economic target: doubling per capita income by 2020 compared to 2010 levels in both rural and urban areas. The ambitious goal for raising rural incomes is part of government efforts to address income disparity and provide support to rural areas that have been left out of China’s economic boom.